


and out of the moon came the dragons

by hapsburgs



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, mentions of a lot of other characters, really really fluffy, some stannis/melisandre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 12:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/861842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hapsburgs/pseuds/hapsburgs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU:<br/>Melisandre did not particularly like children, but nevertheless, here was a terrified Shireen Baratheon standing right in front of her</p>
            </blockquote>





	and out of the moon came the dragons

**Author's Note:**

> really the fluffiest thing I ever wrote but I love Shireen so...hopefully this isn't too ooc.  
> OH AND THIS IS FOR MY FRIEND FATIMA SHE'S LOVELY I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

Melisandre did not particularly like children. She had no younger siblings, or cousins. She never babysat, or thought about becoming a teacher. Even when she was a child, she usually shyed away from other children her age. She mostly saw children as rather loud and messy, two things she was definitely _not_.

 

And, to her slight annoyance, her newest boyfriend, Stannis, happened to have an eight year old daughter named Shireen.

 

And Shireen was currently standing in front of her, in her pajamas, at eleven o'clock at night.

 

She loved Stannis, truly, and he only had Shireen on the weekends. Besides, the kid was eight - old enough, Melisandre figured, to keep to herself. But today - today was the exception. Melisandre had only met Shireen a handful of times, and she usually stayed away from Stannis' on the weekends, but Stannis had an emergency conference call with the King's Landing office, and had rushed out at nine o'clock, after putting Shireen to bed.

 

And he had asked _her_ to stay with her.

 

Melisandre figured that it wouldn't be a big deal; she could have a glass of wine and read a book, and after all, Shireen was asleep.

 

Or so she thought.

 

"Shireen, wasn't your bedtime..." She glanced towards the clock. "Three hours ago?"

 

"Where's my dad?" Shireen asked quietly, hugging the toy doll she always carried around with her closer. She had had it since birth, and it was so old and frayed that it had to be sewed back up numerous times. _Patchead_ , Melisandre tried to remember it's name, _something like that._

 

"He had an emergency conference call with another office. He asked me to stay here and make sure you were...alright." It was just then that Melisandre noticed that Shireen looked upset. Tears were forming in her big blue eyes, mirrors of Stannis's. "Are you okay?"

 

"I just...had a nightmare." Shireen cowered, practically shaking. Melisandre froze - what the hell was she supposed to do with a scared eight year old?

 

"And what do you usually do when you have a nightmare?" She asked the girl, setting down her glass of wine.

 

"I used to find Mr. Cressen, our old butler. He was good at making me not so scared, but he left." Melisandre vaguely remember the old butler that used to work at the house, but she knew he left a few days after she started dating Stannis. "Now, I just hug Patchface." _Patchface, that's it's name._

 

"Then why are you down here?" Melisandre asked bluntly, and Shireen looked even more upset.

 

"This one was...really bad, and I was looking for my dad. But it's okay, I'll just go back to bed." Shireen started to back away.

 

"Are you sure you're okay?" She wondered, and Shireen nodded sharply, clinging to Patchface, but it was quite obviousf that she wasn't. Melisandre watched Shireen walk away for a few seconds, too-long pajama pants dragging on the floor, before she stood up. "Come on, I'll go up with you."

 

What drove her to attempt to comfort an eight year, Melisandre didn't know. But it couldn't be that hard, right?

 

_Right?_

 

Shireen's room was in the opposite end of the house, and Melisandre followed the small girl with the messy black hair there silently. Shireen flicked on the lights in her room before looking sheepishly at Melisandre.

 

"I'm sort of scared of the dark. I'm also more scared at night."

 

"The night is dark and full of terrors." Melisandre said softly, and Shireen looked at her for a long moment before stepping into her room.

 

Melisandre had never seen so many books crammed into one space in her life. There were enough books to fill a library, in stacks almost reaching the ceiling. Books covered nearly every surface.

 

"Sorry it's messy." Shireen said, somehow navigating her way to her bed, which had dark blue sheets and was covered with stuffed animals.

 

"You like to read?" Melisandre asked, and Shireen shot her a look. "Sorry, stupid question." Her fingers brushed against one of the piles of books. "You do know your father has a library. I'm sure he'd let you keep all of these in there."

 

"He gave me a bookcase of my own, but it's all filled up." Shireen said, settling down in bed. Melisandre blinked, before diverting her attention to attempting to make her way to the rocking chair in the corner.

 

"...Do you want me to read you something?" Melisandre inquired after finally sitting down in the chair.

 

"I've already read all of these." The little girl commented. There was a long silence, and Melisandre couldn't help but feel awkward.

 

"What was your nightmare about?" She asked carefully.

 

"A dragon was trying to eat me." Shireen sighed. "It's stupid."

 

"No, it isn't. I used to have nightmares when I was your age." Melisandre replied. "Sometimes, I still do. But dragons aren't that scary. There are stories, where I come from, about dragons."

 

"Really?" Shireen's eyes widened. "Will you tell me one?"

 

"Okay." She answered slowly.

 

"Come over here." Shireen patted the bed next to her, and Melisandre once again began her voyage through the mounds of books. She was fairly exhausted by the time she reached Shireen, and layed down next to her on the bed. It was then she realized the ceiling was a map - painted in the exact likeness of the world.

 

"Well, I'm from Asshai, over...there!" She pointed to Asshai on the ceiling. "Right on the Jade Sea." Shireen nodded. "There's this tale, in the east, that a long time ago, there was were two moons."

 

"Two?" Shireen looked up at her.

 

"Two." Melisandre nodded. "But one of them drifted too close to the sun, and began to crack. One day, the second moon shattered, and do you know what flew out of it?"

 

"Dragons?" Shireen suggested.

 

"Dragons. Some big, some small. All ferocious. For a long time, they fought with humans, and nearly everyone thought they were untrainable. But along came these people called the Valyrians, and they were able to train the dragons, and ride them...almost like pets. They became symbols of the Valyrians."

 

"What happened to them?" Shireen wondered. "There are no dragons today, and I've never heard of the Valyrians."

 

"Well, all the dragons died out, and the Valyrians with them. That was so long ago, that the rest of the world forgot about them, except the people of the East, where the dragons are originally from."

 

"Good...story." Shireen yawned, and Melisandre looked down to see the young girl rubbing her eyes tiredly.

 

"I think so. My mother used to tell it to me when I was really young." When Melisandre glanced over at her again, she was asleep. Melisandre wanted to sigh loudly, but she didn't want to wake the girl up. She started glancing around, planning her escape, but before she knew it, she was falling asleep, too.

 

* * *

Stannis Baratheon was annoyed.

 

Talks with the King's Landing office did not go as well as he had hoped. Mostly, it just had been a lot of bickering back and forth, and he just wanted to go home and sleep. Damn the rest of the board of directors. Damn Baelish, damn Varys, damn Pycelle, and damn especially his ridiculous brothers, Robert and Renly.

 

A glass of wine and a book were left on the coffee table in the living room, the glass marked with Melisandre's trademark carmine lipstick.

 

_Strange_ , Stannis thought. _Perhaps she had already gone to bed_. But Melisandre was a night owl - it was one in the morning, she would usually still be up.

 

He made his way upstairs, and noticed the light was on in Shireen's room. He internally sighed. _She better not be still up reading._

 

Shireen was asleep, much to his relief. But much to his surprise, Melisandre was asleep right next to her, auburn hair fanned out messily around her head. Stannis sighed, and clumsly made his was among the piles to the bed before nudging Melisandre gently.

 

After a few moments, she blinked tiredly before her eyes focused on him.

 

"Hi." She whispered with a lazy smile. He raised a questioning eyebrow at his daughter. "Nightmare. Rough meeting?" She asked, taking note of his ragged face.

 

"You don't even know the half of it." He replied gruffly. "I'm exhausted."

 

She nodded in understanding, shifting carefully in order to join him, but her efforts were futile. Within moments, Shireen's eyes had popped open, and she yawned, stretching big enough to almost hit Melisandre in the face.

 

"Dad, you're home! How was your conference call?" Shireen sat up brightly, and Melisandre relaxed on her place on the bed.

 

"Awful. You should go back to -"

 

"I had a nightmare, a bad one, but Melisandre told me a story about dragons and it was so good and now I'm not afraid anymore!" Shireen smiled.

 

"That's great, Shireen, but-" It was obvious Stannis just wanted to sleep, but Shireen was oblivious.

 

"You have to here it to! Melisandre, will you tell it to him, please?" Shireen begged.

 

"Maybe later, Shireen. It's nearly three in the morning." Melisandre smiled gently.

 

"But I want to here it again now." Shireen said softly. Not whining, but with a hint of fear and hope. Melisandre met Stannis's eyes before smiling.

 

"Of course, Shireen." Before Stannis could escape, Shireen was gesturing to the empty space beside her, her left.

 

"Sit here, dad." Stannis circled around the bed, and settled next to Shireen. "Tell him, Melisandre!"

 

"Alright." She laughed gently. "It is said in the east that there were once two moons." Melisandre yawned softly. "Excuse me. Anyway, one day one of the moons got too close to the sun, and began to crack. It eventually shattered, and out of it emerged thousands of dragons..."

 

Stannis was so tired, that it was hard for him to pay attention. He could feel himself beginning to drift out of consciousness, but suddenly he was aware that Melisandre had quieted.

 

He glanced out to see that both Melisandre and Shireen were fast alseep. And within seconds, he was, too.

 


End file.
